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Daphne over at Daphne's Dandelions hosts a Harvest Monday every week. Now that my garden is producing reliably, and because I've remembered to photograph what I picked for breakfast, I can participate! If you'd like to participate, head over there.

This is just today's. Last week I might have harvested more -- I know we've had a couple of heads of lettuce from the yard. Kale is slowing down, or at least the volunteer kale in the onion bed is. This is probably attributable to the amazing aphid infestation. The cold, then hot, then wet, then very dry cycle has obviously made the plants much more vulnerable to our winter pests. That back corner is for some reason a favorite attack place -- maybe it has something to do with being under a tree? Anyhow, I either need to pull that kale or soap spray the aphids. Given what my life is generally like, I'm betting on using the kale as a trap crop in order to get the newly-planted kale big enough to resist. At least that…

It dawned on me the other day that if I knocked out a bunch of meals for the freezer I could get by with "not cooking" much more often. Because I am as easily fooled as the average toddler, taking a meal out of the freezer feels like someone else made it for me, even if that someone else was me, earlier!

The soil blocks are working enough that every single one has at least one tomato sprouted. Watering them is a challenge, because I haven't found a working spray bottle. That would help. Now I'm dribbling water carefully on each.

Handfuls of kale keep pouring out of the garden.

Morning sleepy children are doing pretty well with their schoolwork.

While still finding time to do things like create a "chimp nest" about 12' up in a tree. This is the view from my kitchen window. Dishes and danger are a common mix here.

Today was a small handful of broccoli shoots, some bolting Bok Choy (the commercial transplants never really got off the ground, but they'll make a nice stir-fry tonight), a bolting head of volunteer tat soi -- the mild weather has the greens all confused, and a handful of the volunteer cilantro. The stir fry is going to have a Thai influence, so I'll use some of the limes from the tree too.

Gardening keeps giving, in that half of the stuff I pulled today wasn't planted by me. At least not this generation. I prepared the soil, made a planting some time ago, and then sat back.

Unfortunately, I may have sat back too much for some things. I just have to water more. I'm waiting on tomorrow's predicted rain, but the new bed of kale and the just-transplanted six week old lettuces from today probably can't wait that long. Therefore, I'm going to pump out the bathtub after I sit and listen to the history work the kids are …

Then, make kale chips. Use the Lacinato because it's smooth. Yum. There goes almost four ounces.Eat these while waiting for dinner.

Then, stem and tear over nine ounces of Red Russian kale. This has been harvested by ferociously nipping back the volunteers. They didn't get planted; they don't get careful treatment. They bolt? They bolt. Tonight, it's kalefest! Prepare a cast iron pan with olive oil. Fill it with kale.

Be reassured that it will cook down to 1/3 its size.

Cut up a sweet potato. Toss with olive oil and put in a dish that matches the one the chicken is in. Put it in the oven to roast. Consider baking a couple more, just to have cooked sweet potatoes around. Realize you are probably the only one eating tonight who wants sweet potatoes in any form.

Make the kid do the risotto she had promised. Refuse to tell her what to put in it (tonig…

Yesterday was a perfect day for catching up. I transplanted about 100 kale plants into a bed, soon to be known as the Bed O'Kale, or the BLD bed (for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which is how I would eat kale).

It was also (drum roll please) tomato-planting day, and I decided to try something new. I used to have a soil block maker, but I got rid of it for reasons that are unclear to me now. Maybe something having to do with selling my lovely, beloved Diamant grain mill *at a substantial loss, never dreaming how the price would triple. . . Sigh. The decisions we make.

So I wasn't about to let a simple matter of not owning the right equipment stop me -- soil blocks it was going to be.

The first step was to moisten soil. Then I tried using a small drinking cup.

That seemed to work okay initially, but eventually the soil stuck really badly and they fell apart, even though I used my favorite bench scraper to convey them. I had to cast about for a better mold. Ideally, it would have som…